President Biden has signed a Nationwide Safety Memorandum to strengthen the safety and resilience of the U.S. meals and agriculture sector. The memorandum builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing work to make sure Individuals have entry to secure, reasonably priced meals, that U.S. producers are capable of get their items to market, and that the U.S. meals and agricultural system is best ready for threats which will hurt the well being of crops and livestock and trigger shocks to the associated fee or availability of meals.
The memorandum instructs prime authorities officers, together with the Secretaries of State, Protection, Inside, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Well being and Human Providers, and Homeland Safety, the Legal professional Basic, the Administrator of the Environmental Safety Company, the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, and the Director of the Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage to determine threats and coordinate with federal, state, native, and tribal governments to develop responses.
Threats to be assessed embrace chemical, organic, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemics impacting the sector’s vital infrastructure and important workforce, overseas animal ailments, penalties of local weather change, and threats within the cyber area, resembling disruption to techniques because of rising info know-how and operational know-how convergence and mental property theft.
The Nationwide Cattlemen’s Beef Affiliation (NCBA) hailed the signing, saying it reveals the Biden administration “clearly understands that meals safety and U.S. meals manufacturing is nationwide safety.”
NCBA CEO Colin Woodall commented, “Our agricultural sector faces a wide range of threats that might inhibit cattle producers’ capability to convey beef from pasture to plate. NCBA appreciates the Biden administration’s concentrate on figuring out threats and growing new methods to mitigate them. Collectively, we will shield our trade whereas making certain that each one Individuals have entry to healthful meals like beef.”
Forward of the memorandum signing, Woodall attended a pre-briefing on the White Home that included dialogue of key safety points for the cattle trade—instruments just like the Nationwide Veterinary Stockpile, which helps stop the unfold of illness and aids restoration, and cybersecurity and employee coaching packages that assist the continued operations of different members of the meat provide chain.
“I’m significantly happy to listen to that the administration is making safety and resiliency selections based mostly on information. These data-driven selections are those we will assist,” stated Woodall.
